Jane Doe vs. Virginia Wesleyan College- What the Jury Never Heard

Posted By Halperin Legal || 3-Jun-2016

What the Jury Never Heard.

In our case of
Jane Doe versus Virginia Wesleyan College (“VWC”), (verdict for the school), the jury ruled that Jane Doe and our legal team did not put on sufficient
evidence to prove that the school created an environment where rape of
freshmen and other female students was fostered, even facilitated by the
college. However, I would like to take a moment to explain the mountain
of evidence that was that the jury was never permitted to know about pertaining
to the school’s and the rapist’s conduct. This evidence was
of great importance to the issue of VWC’s negligence, which we contend
set in motion the chain of events that led to our client’s brutal
attack in August 2012, and created an environment for predators like Robert
Roe to carry out such attacks. These court rulings will be the subject
of our vigorous appeal, which we believe will cause this verdict to be
overturned and result in a new trial.

Summary of the Key Evidence/Claims Excluded by the Court

First, VWC (which is barely the size of a high school), had the highest
rate of sexual assault and alcohol violations in the entire state of Virginia
for any college in one of the two years preceding the rape at issue. That’s
right! Prior to the attack on Ms. Doe, the rate of sexual assault reported
by the school itself doubled, and was the highest per capita in the state
of Virginia by far.

Second, the jury did not get to hear that the rapist, Robert Roe, was caught
on at least 3 separate occasions, prior to the attack, “knock-out”
drunk on campus in troubling circumstances. On one occasion, Roe was found
“black out” drunk and naked on the floor of a women’s
restroom in his dormitory. He then urinated in the presence of security.
On another occasion, he was found on the school’s library steps
black out drunk. On a third, he was found blacked out drunk in a dorm
hallway by security and claimed “dissociative behavior” to
get a pass on any discipline. These actions were in clear violation of
the school’s alcohol policy and Virginia law, but Roe suffered no
discipline by VWC and was allowed to remain on campus and continue to
pose a threat to himself and others such as Ms. Doe. The popular consensus
of experts was that any such “hypothetical” student with such
a record of violations would have been kicked off campus well before the
attack on our client. We also were not allowed to introduce evidence of
the numerous studies which show that alcohol plays a role in the vast
majority of rapes on campus and otherwise, and that VWC’s of lack
of enforcement or control over alcohol consumption on it campus directly
increased the risk of rape.

The jury did not get to hear that Robert Roe was found “responsible”
by the VWC Title IX hearing board for the sexual assault of Jane Doe and
subsequently expelled him, but the Dean of the school then changed termination
status to “withdrawn for ‘personal reasons.” As a result,
although Robert Roe would not be allowed back into VWC, the school changed
his official transcript to allow him to attend other schools if he so
chose to re-enroll and in turn pose a similar threat to students at his
new school. Many will remember Jesse Matthew, accused of multiple sexual
assaults and murders, who was accused of sexual assault at 2 different
colleges, but allowed to transfer to other schools without divulging his
disciplinary record. Had one or both of those schools properly reported
his discipline on his transcript, several of his victims would be alive
today. Such action by VWC in the instant case not only negated the school’s
disciplinary policy, but sent the message to others that they could get
away with this kind of violent conduct without consequence. Numerous school
officials who testified in our case previous to the trial, indicated that
they were disgusted with the Dean's decision, but this evidence too
was never provided to the jury.

The jury was never allowed to consider the entire body of science and data,
which was confirmed by the school’s own web materials and literature
- that 1 in 5 college women is raped and that 90% or more do not report
immediately (or ever), and the effects of rape known to the school. Indeed,
in light of this verdict and the numerous cases or events of similar scenarios
occurring at Baylor, Penn State, Dartmouth, BYU, and numerous other well
and lesser known institutions, is it any wonder that student don’t report?

We Will Appeal:

VWC and Robert Roe have won nothing. The verdict has only emboldened our
client to harden her stance and appeal this case until justice is done;
and, we hope encourage the other numerous victims of college rape to come forward.

How ironic on the very same day that a college like VWC and Robert Roe
are “exonerated” for their sins, another college, Baylor University,
was blown apart by the same type of scandal. School officials, and in
particular, the football program did the exact same thing when it came
to charges of rape and assault by athletes on its campus. They looked
the other way, attacked the victim, and as a result, facilitated additional
rapes because they failed to take action in light of overwhelming evidence
of a serious problem. We implore you to look up the number of colleges
where this has and is still going on. We have a problem on our campuses
when officials value their athletic programs and reputations more than
they do the safety of their students. At least 1 in 5 female students
is raped during college, and alcohol is generally a key, if not the tool
used to incapacitate the victim. This is a fact. Our jury was not permitted
to know. Most schools do nothing, ZERO, to combat the problem and only
make it worse by blaming the victim and coddling the offender.

Finally, I cannot speak enough about the courage our client Jane Doe displayed
in trial and throughout, taking on this fight for justice. She was in
a word, “amazing” in her will. We have a duty not to let her
down and do not plan on it.

To watch the full interview Jane Doe gave to ABC's 13 News Now, click
here.

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